The subject matter described herein relates generally to methods and systems for performance control of wind turbines and wind parks, and more particularly, to methods and systems for programming, and in some embodiments providing user control of, the performance of wind turbines and/or wind parks.
At least some known wind turbines include a tower and a nacelle mounted on the tower. A rotor is rotatably mounted to the nacelle and is coupled to a generator by a shaft. A plurality of blades extend from the rotor. The blades are oriented such that wind passing over the blades turns the rotor and rotates the shaft, thereby driving the generator to generate electricity.
Wind turbines often are equipped with measurement and control systems that enable them to measure output for example power and noise, and to react to changing conditions such as wind speed and direction.
The control settings of wind turbines, as well as environmental variables such as wind speed, significantly impact the power and noise characteristics of wind turbines. Usually, the operation of a wind is characterized by a power curve and a corresponding noise emission curve.
Due to the variability of wind, operational constraints such as the maximal electrical power produced by wind turbines is subject to variation on several different time scales, ranging from hourly changes in wind speed and direction or more often, to diurnal changes, to seasonal changes occurring on the time scale of months, to annual fluctuations of average wind speed. The variability of wind conditions presents substantial challenges to the efficient design and operation of wind turbines, such as limiting the possible electrical power output of a given wind turbine or existing windpark configuration. Due to the variability of wind direction, wake effects that occur when a second wind turbine is located downstream of another also variably impact the maximal electrical power output.
Operational targets such as hard noise limits or legal regulations pertaining to noise emission also sometimes impact the performance of wind turbines and/or wind parks. A trade-off between energy capture (annual energy production in MWh) and corresponding noise emission exists. Usually, more efficient wind energy capture is associated with greater noise emission. On the other hand, low or poor energy capture reduces the economic viability of a wind turbine or wind park. The maximal energy capturing capabilities of wind turbines and wind parks may be highly influenced by local noise limits.